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"id": 197138,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Ndia",
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"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me a chance to contribute to the Presidential Speech. First of all, because I have not spoken, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election as the Speaker. I have no doubt that you will be able to guide this House to the best of your ability. Secondly, I would like to thank the people of Ndia Constituency for giving me yet another chance to serve them. Together with them, we will develop our constituency. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am particularly impressed by two items that the President mentioned. The first one was on direct election of mayors and chairpersons of county councils. When this happens - I have no doubt that it is going happen very soon - all the problems that have bedeviled our local authorities will come to an end. When we have mayors and county council chairpersons elected directly by the citizens, they will be accountable to the people. In the current situation, mayors and chairpersons are accountable to the councillors who elected them. I also urge the Minister for Local Government to empower mayors and chairpersons of local authorities, so that they become executive mayors and chairpersons. If this happens, local authorities will render services to the people. At the moment, they have got so many problems. So, the current arrangement does not appear to be working. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other issue that the President mentioned is the fact that there will be massive development of infrastructure, particularly that which was destroyed during the chaos that erupted after the general election. There have been calls for the President to appoint the Cabinet. We wish him well as he undertakes this onerous task. The view of Kenyans is that we should have a large Cabinet, so that we incorporate the various shades of opinion. This is not unheard of. I am told that in Germany, 75 per cent hon. Members of Parliament are in Government. Were this to happen, since we do not have an Official Opposition, those of us who will not be lucky enough to be appointed Ministers and Assistant Ministers will be the Opposition. If we have a Government of 40 Cabinet Ministers and 80 Assistant Ministers, for instance, making a total of 120 Members, the Government will not be worried about Back-benchers. It will be having the majority of the membership of the House. So, it is a good idea to have a bigger Cabinet. The other issue that the Government mentioned is on the youth. If we do not create jobs for our youth, we will be sitting on a time bomb. The group that gave me a lot of the votes in my constituency are the youth. We promised that we will create jobs for them. We said that we will have specific programmes for them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Youth Enterprise Fund (YEF) has not been very successful. Most of the intermediary financial institutions that were appointed to manage the YEF want the youths to have opened bank accounts and provide security. This is will not happen. So, we must have a specific programme targeting the youth. We must give them opportunity to access gainful employment. One of the reasons as to why the chaos that erupted after the last general elections lasted for a long time is because, for the first time, the youth had something to do. Previously, they were unemployed, but at that time, they had something to do although very destructive. They were engaged. So, we must give the youth something to do. Quite a number of them are now educated up to university level. All that they are lacking is experience. I have always been wondering; how can you have experience when you have not even started your first job? We should do away with the requirement of experience for one to get a job. March 20, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 313 When you advertise for a job and say that one must have ten years' or five years' experience, how will that person who has never been employed get the experience? Mr. Speaker, Sir, now that we are in a power-sharing mood, this mood should be extended to other sectors. It should also go to schools. School principals should also share some of their powers with teachers and students. We want to see the power sharing concept that we have embraced taken from the top to the bottom. It should also go to our homes. We should also start sharing power with our spouses and children. We want this concept to go down to all sectors of the country. I would like to see this concept acceptable and popular with our people. Just before I conclude, I would like to say something about the hate speeches and Short Text Messages (SMSs) that we received during the campaign period. I was not surprised by the violence that erupted after the general election, taking into account the hate speeches that were circulated during the campaign period. The Ministry of Information and Communication should have a way of regulating SMSs. This was the most dangerous innovation that has come across this country. However shocking the violence was, we, politicians, from all divides were engaged in hate speeches in sending SMSs. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you tell your people: \"You are poor because others have taken away your wealth\", what are you saying? You are actually creating conditions for violence. When you tell your people: \"You have no jobs because they have been taken by others\", what are you saying? You are actually creating conditions for violence. When you tell your people: \"You have no houses because they have been taken by others\", what are you saying? You are actually creating conditions for violence. Even churches are not excluded from this scenario. There is one bishop who said that she had a dream, and in that dream, she claimed that God had shown her who was to be elected as the President, and that anybody who would not elect that candidate would not go to Heaven. These are the conditions that created violence. Therefore, we must take care that we do not, again, engage in these SMSs and hate speeches. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the President for the courageous move that he took in agreeing to share some of the responsibilities with the Prime Minister-designate. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank hon. Raila Odinga for the courage that he also showed. These two principals were under a lot of pressure from their supporters, friends and the people who had campaigned for them, not to cede any ground at all. They were looking at it as a win-lose situation. However, the two principals have shown us that they were able to go above the pressure from their supporters and those who had contributed money to their campaign kitties, so that the country could move on. What we now have is a win-win situation. Therefore, we must congratulate them for having risen to the occasion. I have no doubt that this grand coalition will succeed. It must succeed. It requires goodwill. Goodwill can only be cultivated. As we begin this new grand coalition, there are so many outstanding issues. For instance, the first business of the grand coalition should be to re-settle all the people who are displaced. We should also, probably, build them shelter. With those remarks, I support the President's Speech."
}